“And some rules are too old even for the Ancients to know,” she repeated his words from earlier.
“That’s correct.”
They subsided into silence, and the gravity of her situation hedged in on her again. She liked talking to Gabe. He took her mind off her own issues and the creepy forest. And the phantom keeping pace with them. Katie looked over at Andre again. The phantom seemed content, neither interfering nor trying to communicate with her.
“So … is it possible for a dead-dead Immortal to come back to life?” she asked.
Andre shook his head even before Gabriel spoke.
“Not that I know of,” the assassin said. “Though I guess if Death doesn’t find their soul like she can’t find yours, they can just … linger.”
“That’d be interesting. But you said she does know where we are.”
Gabe’s step faltered, and he tripped for the first time since he’d led them into the forest. Katie’s gaze went from Andre to the death-dealer.
“I wonder what she’s planning,” Gabe said.
“If she’d tell anyone, it’d be you.”
“She’d never give me the time of the day. She barely even makes time for Darkyn.”
“Why would she? Darkyn isn’t a deity, right?”
“He is not, but he is a warrior worthy of her attention in battle. The Immortals always say, at least they understand Darkyn. No one can predict Death. No one even sees her, unless they die-dead.”
“It must be a lonely existence for her,” she said, puzzled as to why he’d speak more highly of Darkyn than he had of Death.
“Loneliness is not something a deity can feel. Only humans and Immortals.”
“I’m sure she felt something for you, Gabriel. A woman doesn’t take a man to her bed for thousands of years and not feel something for him.”
“Interesting idea.”
Katie frowned. In the course of a day, Gabe had gone from emotional to unaffected when discussing Death. He was distracted, and she felt like she was talking to someone completely different. Blaming herself for taking his mind off of their survival, she fell silent and followed him.
Briars and branches caught her pant legs, and she found herself slowing to push more and more of the jungle’s flora out of the way. Gabe, too, began to struggle with the bramble, and she noticed the jungle no longer laid their path before him. Instead of clearing away to allow them passage, it stayed where it was, obstructing them.